2009-08-18

This year the Edmonton Fringe features not one, but two zombie plays. I wanted to attend both in a single day, but Captain Hook vs. The Zombies sold out unexpectedly quickly, leaving me only the opportunity to review For the Love of Zombie. This certainly is one of the more creative fringe plays out there, for large parts of it aren't actually a play. To get around the live special effects problems, every scene not taking place in the kitchen of the farmhouse (the fields, farmyard, basement) is pre-acted, and shown on a big screen behind the set. This allows for some interesting tricks: they're able to show actual rural Alberta, show zombies rising out of the actual earth (er, hay, in this case...they probably could have done a little better than this), axes to the chest, spilling huge vats of chemicals, firing off real shotguns, etc. etc. etc. They cues between outside and in are all done flawlessly, and to great effect. Anyways, this is the story of Grahm (as in the wafer), a liberal hippie douche who renounced urbanism, moved out to become the world's first vegetarian farmhand, and ended up falling in love with the sweet yet simple farmer's daughter...er, granddaughter. When he tries to help the farm with some wonky hippie-juice he bought from an organic vegetable stand, all hell breaks loose: when mixed in with whatever was at the bottom of the washbarrel, and poured over some native prairie grasses, it causes three zombies to rise up from the earth and chase after them. In the thick of zombie attacks, the sweet farmer's daughter suddenly turns into General Patton, taking control of the situation and barking out orders. When the zombies simply use a key to enter the farmhouse, you think you're going to see some wild and crazy zombie action...when the play takes a sudden left turn and the zombies morph into intelligent speaking characters who all know everybody on the farm (except Grahm) we're thrown for one hell of a curveball. Seriously, talking to others I know who watched this play (its proven very popular) this was the moment where they were sort of lost as an audience member. Turning a zombie into a sleazy realty speculator was a bit much. Once they started talking as normal people, the plot of the story came out. Well, lets just say it left a lot to be desired. The acting was not great, though there's a lengthy massive performance by the female lead that deserves huge applause near the end that I'll discuss below. The zombies (except Junior) were not well written nor particularly well acted, though with the material provided one couldn't expect miracles. When the "lead zombie" turns out to be a villain with the nuances and character development of an extra on Star Trek: Voyager, its a bad sign. Gramps is acted well with one exception to be discussed below, and the star-crossed (zombie-crossed?) lovers are competant enough for the production at hand. Now its time for me to give out the spoilers which you may not wish to read...

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...okay, so it turns out that our sweet farmers daughter isn't so sweet after all. Turns out she murdered all three of these men after marrying them. When even her grandfather (who turns out to be her adopted father, after her parents died in a housefire that was clearly her doing) decides to stop protecting her and end the killing, she goes crazy and comes after all of them. [Okay, okay, okay, I've let this gone on long enough. What the hell? If she murdered all of these husbands, how is it they pop out of the grave knowing each other? They never would have met in real life, right? And how about Gramps? How can he go from batshit crazy to completely sane and capable of a lengthy monologue in the span of 30 seconds? "He's finally able to stop hiding the truth" you say, and that's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't cure festering mental illness in less time than it takes to watch a "The Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials. Meanwhile, now he breaks his silence? Just because this vegetarian loser's life is in peril? Hello! She killed your wife! The woman she considered her mother! You were cool with her death but this hippie wanker is too precious to let go? At least deliver your little spiel in character next time. We shouldn't be left asking "where the hell did this guy come from? -ed] So anyways, she attacks the zombies, killing Junior, eventually killing the sex maniac, killing the sleazy zombie, killing her adopted father (he "betrayed her", you see... I'm left unsure why he didn't off her, but there you go), and finally coming after Grahm until he tries to shoot her (he's a noted hoplophone, so she doesn't think he can pull the trigger...he can, but can't load the gun) and instead ends up proposing. This calms her and makes her happy, and its a 50/50 proposition that liberal hippie douche will be alive by the 2010 Fringe. Meanwhile, the highlight bar none of the show is when the diminutive actress breaks down the door setpiece with the axe in her hand as a triumphant white light shines in. She didn't do a The Shining ripoff, but instead bursts through the door like gangbusters, hugely impressing the audience so much I felt like I was watching Kelly walk through the door in a Married...With Children taping. It alone is probably worth the price of admission, and the vignettes on the screen fill out the bill. Its a shame they had to do, you know, all of that acting in the kitchen.